Hot city ready to cool down

The City of Melbourne's commitment to developing innovative solutions to tackle climate change has been recognised by C40 & Siemens City Climate Leadership Awards.

Homeownership in this bustling, forward-thinking city is a goal for many, and with cheap home loans still on offer thanks to a record-low cash rate, now could be the time to make a move.

Making it to the top

The City of Melbourne's Urban Landscapes Climate Adaptation Program was shortlisted for the awards in the Adaptation and Resilience Category.

This places the program alongside just 25 other cities from around the world for its shortlist status.

"I am pleased that City of Melbourne has been internationally recognised for our work in this field," noted Lord Mayor Robert Doyle in a June 27 statement.

"Great cities need to be tough and adaptable and that is why we are implementing a comprehensive and ambitious plan so that we can better deal with extreme weather events."

Getting cool

Due to the heat-island effect, the Victorian capital's city is between 2 and 7 degrees celsius warmer than outer suburbs, explained Chair of Council's Environment portfolio Arron Wood.

"With a higher frequency of extreme heat events predicted over the coming decades, heat is going to become a major issue for the city. Our Urban Landscapes Climate Adaptation Program aims to cool the city by 4 degrees celsius to safeguard our residents and city users. Cooling the city will increase our resilience to the projected impacts of climate change, and at the same time it will increase the liveability of the city," Mr Wood continued.

Along with the ambitious goal of cooling the city, other goals of the program include streetscape adaptation, urban forest expansion and increasing evapotranspiration through park watering.

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